On Monday 23 January 1911, a collision between a passenger train and a coal train on the Taff Vale Railway line at Hopkinstown, outside Pontypridd in Wales, resulted in the loss of eleven[1] (twelve according to the official report)[2] lives.
The accident, also known as the Hopkinstown rail disaster or the Coke Ovens collision, occurred at 9:48 am, when the 09:10 passenger train from Treherbert to Cardiff, heading towards Pontypridd and carrying about 100 people, rounded the bend at Gyfeillion Lower signal box with a clear signal ahead.
[3] On 24 January a preliminary hearing was conducted at the New Inn Hotel in Pontypridd, where interviews were held and witness statements were taken.
The inquest heard conflicting reports from signalmen Hutchings of the Gyfeillion Lower and Quick of the Rhondda Cutting Junction, the other signal box in control of the stretch of line where the accident took place.
Hutchings was also criticised for not replacing his signals to "Danger" as soon as he was aware of the conflict – if he had done so, the driver of the passenger train would have had about 30 seconds to observe the danger signal, and, even if he had been unable to stop the train, its speed would have been greatly reduced and the collision much less severe.